Unrequited Love
by SiuanSedai
Summary: Yuffie knows she shouldn't have fooled herself that Sora would ever love her instead of Kairi. But she won't say sorry. Written for 100 situations on livejournal.


This is another oneshot I wrote for the 100situations livejournal community.

**Prompt 003 - Sunrise**

The sun was just beginning to rise above the horizon. Although it was early summer, there was a cold breeze that blew the white curtains back from the window with each small gust of wind. The cool air danced against Yuffie's skin and drew her out of slumber slowly; she cuddled up to the warm body lying beside her. The breeze continued to chill her back, though, and to reach for the blanket she had to wake enough to sit up. When she was sitting up, the soft rays of the rising sun shining through the gap in the fluttering curtains onto her skin, she opened her eyes in preparation to admire the physique of her companion.

But the stab of lust she'd expected didn't come. Instead a knife of guilt sliced her and made her shiver. Last night it had felt so right when Sora had asked her to come over because Kairi had walked out after they fought yet again, and somehow sitting on the sofa watching the television had led to them making love. He'd been so gentle and caring that Yuffie had almost believed that he returned the love she'd felt for him for years. But this morning, with the pure light of a new day shining on her bare back and the paopu tree shivering in the wind outside the window, Yuffie knew she'd been fooling herself.

She took the sheet with her as she stood up, feeling exposed and guilty for being naked in Sora and Kairi's bedroom. The sheet was as white as the curtain – Naminé had made sure everything in the room was white and pure and clean – and Yuffie felt like an intruder. She _was_ an intruder. What was she doing here?

She fled the room, picking up her clothes along the way. As she entered the sitting room, she saw red hair disappearing through the other door and a moment later the front door slammed. Yuffie winced as she realised that Kairi had come back home and seen Yuffie's bra discarded on the floor. She could hear Sora mumbling something, no doubt waking up. So she dressed as quickly she could and, uncharacteristically, ran away, not wanting to speak to him. How could she? She'd told him last night that she loved him. Yuffie didn't open her heart often, because she didn't want to get hurt. This time she hadn't only hurt herself, she'd hurt Kairi and she was sure she'd hurt Sora too. Why couldn't she keep her big mouth shut?

Assuming that Kairi would have gone to a friend's house – Yuffie knew that if their roles had been reversed, she would have headed to Aerith's for a long bitching session, although with Aerith it was more a one-sided rant with Aerith nodding in the appropriate places, because a bitch was one of the things Aerith most definitely wasn't – she headed to the island. The breeze whipped her dark hair into her eyes and Yuffie tied it back with a green ribbon.

The dawn seemed to be mocking her. The birds sang joyfully, the seagulls wheeled freely overhead and the plants and trees seemed to brim with life. Yuffie wished selfishly that the day would be as miserable as she felt, but there wasn't a cloud in sight.

She received a nasty surprise when she arrived on the island. While she was walking along the bridge she hadn't seen Kairi standing on the other side of the tree, but then the redhead looked to see who'd disturbed her and Yuffie stopped still.

She stared at Kairi. What was she supposed to say? She should apologise, beg on bended knee for forgiveness, but Yuffie didn't do that sort of thing. Besides, she wasn't sorry.

"I'm not sorry," she said. Blunt and tactless she may have been, but she was always honest. Kairi's eyes flashed with hurt, and Yuffie decided to clarify what she'd meant. "I'm not sorry that – that I slept with Sora," she said. "But… I'm sorry I fell in love with him," she said, bitterness creeping into her voice. "I want to hate you because you have Sora, but I can't because if he hadn't gone looking for you I might never have met him."

Kairi's expression changed into one of utter calm; she was almost expressionless, but a wilder, untamed spirit seemed to appear behind her eyes.

"Naminé," Yuffie stated. Naminé nodded.

"I – we're – sorry too," she said, her tone softer and more ethereal than Kairi's although they utilised the same voice box. "It's hard to love someone when you shouldn't."

"Sora's always loved you. What would you understand about how it feels?" Yuffie retorted.

"I was a Nobody," Naminé said. "How can a Nobody love? I had to hide it. All I could do was draw pictures of Sora and Roxas and not feel, because the others would have known. At least you can let yourself feel."

"Yeah, and that makes me feel much better. It's so nice to know that although there's no point in loving Sora because he'll never love me back, because I'm not going to be killed by a bunch of losers in black robes," Yuffie said sarcastically. "Thanks for the thought and all, but don't bother next time, ok?" Naminé's expression changed again, and it was clear that Kairi would speak next.

"Next time?" she asked. Yuffie realised what she'd implied.

"That was a rhetorical phrase," she said crossly. She could just imagine Leon saying _Long words, Yuff, don't use them if you don't understand them_. Then she'd punch him. But she couldn't punch Kairi. Kairi hadn't done anything wrong. Yuffie had. Besides, it was traditional that girls slapped, pinched, and pulled each other's hair, but never punched. And Yuffie wasn't going to condescend to fight in such a pathetic _girly_ way. Kairi may be a tomboy, but Yuffie was willing to bet that she fought like a girl. A wildcat, but a female one. Yuffie, on the other hand, went for plain old beating up.

"You should go talk to him. He loves you," Yuffie said, suppressing the urge to hit Kairi. "I – " she didn't know what to say. "He called me Kairi, once. The first time I met him, in Traverse Town. He was just waking up and he called me Kairi. He's always loved you. Just… stick with him. Don't leave him again. For his sake."

Yuffie turned and walked away. There wasn't anything more to say. In a way she felt good now. The pressure and tension of hiding it all had found an outlet in the most unexpected person possible. Maybe it wasn't such a bad morning after all; maybe now she could move on and be happy as Yuffie the ninja. Maybe she'd seen a flash of understanding in Kairi's eyes as she turned to leave.


End file.
